Sunday, April 13, 2014

695 : The Turning

Sunday Whirl (Wordle #156) presents a list of words
that we must incorporate in a writing piece.  

The words this week are:

swear, turns, chant, porcelain, limbo, wrists,
tumble, papers, gaudy, briefly, deeply, moonlit


The Turning.

It turns relentlessly, no purpose is shown,
A revolving collection of all that is known.
But in a small quiet backwater, tucked away
Things tumble, not turn, in strange disarray.


Life’s like a circus on set up on a field
Each tent has sideshows, slightly concealed.
Refined old ladies hold Chihuahua pups,
Sipping Earl Grey from porcelain cups;
Unshaven men who smell of old beer,
Sleep on flat boxes, beneath the old pier;
On the moonlit banks of a river we find
Lovers swapping fluids, of the bodily kind;
While in a police station, beneath a strong light,
A felon swears blue he’s been home all the night.
Fresh-faced youths, stand tall in the choir,
Chanting obedience but harbouring desire. 
There are sweet little children in gaudy pajamas,
Hearing stories of knights, in bright, shiny armours.
Disasters bestow unimaginable sorrow
Which the papers will cover, just briefly, tomorrow
Then sport is returned to fill the front page
And the victims dispatched to a limbo, off-stage.
Some folk feeling so unloved and unmissed
Pop poisons; or jump; or cut open their wrists.
Seniors embrace beneath the warm covers,
Much older now, but still happily lovers.
Guys on soapboxes harangue those who’ve neared
With views deeply held but generally weird.
Each life is different in how it is told,
No-one is certain how theirs will unfold.


While we each are different in how we are wrought,
The product of nature, reworked by our thoughts,
We are but a candle that briefly burns.
Coldly indifferent, the universe turns.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2014
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44 comments:

  1. My carefully worked comment disappeared. This one may not be quite as smooth!

    A triumph of a Wordle, blending rhyme and rhythm with skill, and your last line could have come from Rumi!

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    1. Perhaps we should rename 'Google' as 'Gobble'?

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  2. So true. No one knows now their lives will play out....maybe sometimes that is a good thing. You have caught many interesting scenarios here.

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  3. 'The product of nature, reworked by our thoughts,'....exactly how we move and largely the choice is ours...however our lot is to burn to give light...enjoyed the rhyme.. :)

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    1. Nature vs nurture - still a debated topic but I feel both play a part.

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  4. "Sipping Earl Grey from porcelain cups;"
    Were you looking in at me :-)
    My favourite tipple.
    I'm in awe of anybody who can write to somebody else's words. AND produce a Vincent painting/photograph/etching [?] into the bargain.

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    1. All my illustrations are lifted from Google, and usually but not always, tweaked with Photoshop.

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    2. It's an interesting challenge - the tricky bit is finding a topic that will embrace the words.

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  5. This really is beautifully worded with such emotion. I loved it.

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  6. You seamlessly incorporated the wordle into a very good poem....and exposed the good and bad facets of life .. It is largely fate, luck or whatever which determines a destiny and it can all change in at a moment's notice..A good reason for not being too smug.I like your virility advertisement for seniors and the kids' gaudy pajamas . You can buy them for adults too. I've got lots !:)

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  7. A clever contrast..the rhythm and flow so effortless and lyrical..the words..raw and real as day.. a poetical achievement!

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  8. very nice...love this one. I like to think the universe is not so very coldly indifferent though. Somehow I think that our warm lives are part of the spinning energy

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    1. Possibly but not in the centre of things. Eccentric, like me.

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  9. Completely wonderful!


    http://miskmask.wordpress.com/2014/04/13/jamaica-bounce/

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  10. the last 6 lines, i really like
    our lives are but a taper, and we all have different stories
    if we are lucky our stories get to mingle a bit along the way
    smiles.

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    1. Nothing wrong with a bit of mingling, as long as we get our story straight when we go home, I guess. ;-) Oh, I see, that's not what you meant.

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  11. The last stanza says it most succinctly Cosmo! One is entitled to one's own and as long as one is in control and is rational about it life has so much to offer! Great thoughts in creating this and rhyming smoothly. Well done!

    Hank

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    1. Ah, but for the other eleven words I could have left it with the last stanza. (sigh)

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  12. "We are but a candle that briefly burns" - very true but it still does not mean we should not make it worthwhile.

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  13. I'm not sure how you manage to top yourself each week!

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  14. I confess that never read wordles when they are brief and intellectual exercises. Here you overcame that in a Whitmanesque catalog that compelled attention to some of the worst and best lives we can witness. And you do it with a Jeffers' passion about the indifference of the turning universe. This should depress me, but actually gives me hope that homo sapiens can never destroy what does not depend on them. We may be a natural force after all.

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    1. I understand what you mean by the exercises. I try not to think of a Wordle as a verbal Tetris game and attempt to paint a picture with it.

      We are a natural force but not one of the big ones.

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  15. love the thoughts that you used to sum up this poem, perfect, and also the line "Each life is different in how it is told," is so true!

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  16. Excellent work, this is a belting little story.

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  17. Wowzers, this is life, for sure, and I might need a comforting sip of your wineglass for a re-read, hee hee....I especially love the little old ladies with Chihuahuas and teacups.........also love the fresh-cheeked choirboys with their lurking Thoughts! Great write for a Sunday morning read, my friend!

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  18. So many lives, human and otherwise. So temporary. Which is fine. Like everyone else, I really, really like this piece. Thank you.

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    1. Thanks EC. I often surprise myself where these things end up.

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  19. Wow! you mentioned that I 'painted quite a picture" well if so yours m'dear is a mural ... what a stroll through life ... !

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    1. LOL! Thank you. As long as it is not graffiti on the back wall of the local supermarket!

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  20. Ah, but even graffiti on the back wall of the local supermarket tells a bit of someone's story and a choice made in hope about how it unfolds. Really like all of this J Cosmo, it is a tapestry well woven and unraveled with a flourish of rhyme and reason. Your final line only brings about the completeness of realization. Perhaps we humans are the balance to that cold indifference and therein lies our only real choice? I love the image, it is vibrant and alive, like your poem. Thank you,

    Elizabeth

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    1. Thank you Elizabeth - I enjoy the Wordles but struggle for clarity at times.

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  21. This is such a sumptuous serving of poetry; have a nice Sunday, i'll try my hand at this wordle later in the week

    Much love...

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  22. Stunning, J Cosmo. Beautiful use of rhythm and rhyme.

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    1. Thank you Brenda - especially as you torment me with these incredibly diverse word selections!

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  23. Your words have painted a picture. Well done, Cosmo.

    I'm glad you removed the block! I hope you chopped it up for firewood! )

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